Page 10 of Secrets in Love
Polly smiled and nodded. “Okay, then. Take me out on a date.”
“Uhh…what?”
“Take me out, Nate. I think we should date. We’re both single, both attracted to each other. You told me you were lonely, and I am kinda lonely too. We’re friends. We have fun together. Why not?”
“Uhh. Well, I don’t really date people. I sleep with people. That’s it.”
“Yes, that’s been your pattern for a long time, but I think you are ready for a change, and I am the one to change it. So, next Saturday night, take a shower, get dressed up, then pick me up at seven. I’ll be waiting.” As if this whole sentence hadn’t stunned me enough, she then leaned down, placed her hand on my shoulder, and kissed my cheek, catching the very edge of my mouth. Her lips were soft and tasted like berries, her skin smelled like honeydew melon, and her hair like coconut. She didn’t smell like Evie, but she smelled like a goddamn tropical party, and it took all my willpower not to drag her onto the floor and fuck the living shit out of her right then.
Those berry lips were still pressed to my cheek, and when she finally pulled back, her hand touched my chin and popped my open-hanging jaw closed. “By the way, it’s Sunday, Nate. The boys aren’t shearing today.” Bopping me on the nose, she gave me a wink, then strutted her way back to her Corolla, leaving me a confused, sweating mess with a lukewarm coffee, a soggy sandwich, and a rock-hard boner.
After being propositioned by Polly, I felt gross messaging Evie. I wanted to congratulate her and suss out the asshole male dancer, but I almost felt unfaithful, which I knew was stupid. I’d never had an issue talking to Eves as soon as I left any girl’s bed, but this felt different. Maybe because Polly and Evie were friends? They had been inseparable for years, always dancing or playing with their Tamagotchis, having sleepovers most weekends, and even having joint parties because their birthdays were only a day apart.
Things really changed between them when we were teenagers. I’m not sure if anything happened or if they just naturally grew apart. They remained close, but there was a definite cooling off of the relationship.
Mum was sitting on my porch when I arrived home, with a shit-eating grin and a lemon poppyseed cake on her lap. I knew it was lemon cake as it was her lemon-themed tin. She had a matching container for her favorite flavors: chocolate drops on her chocolate tin, tiny carrots for carrot cake, multicolored apples for apple cake, and even one with little cherubs for her famous angel food cake. I had a suspicion about what the grin was for too.
“Janet,” I said curtly. She sighed and closed her eyes. She always hated me calling her by her first name. That was why I did it.
“Morning, Nate. Polly Hart was here looking for you. Did she find you at the shed?”
“Yep.”
“Was that egg-and-bacon sandwich on the front seat of her car for you?”
“Yep.”
“And are you hung over and forgot it was Sunday?”
“Yep.”
“Well, thank you for that thrilling conversation, Nathaniel.”
“My pleasure.”
Mum continued smirking as I approached and picked the tin up from her hands. “Thanks for this and for the shepard’s pie last night. Now, if you don’t mind taking off, I’d very much like to go back to bed.”
“I’ll take off when you tell me why you were rooting around outside at one am, and why Miss Polly has been here twice in as many days.”
“You don’t miss a damn thing around here, do you?”
“No, I do not. Please tell me you didn’t sleep with her, or I will knock your block off. She’s a beautiful girl, as is her mum, and I will not be embarrassed by your shenanigans. Tourists and hot shearers are one thing. Childhood friends are another altogether.”
I ran my hands through my hair and kicked the pole on the veranda. “Jesus, Mum. No, I did not sleep with her… But I might. She asked me out on a date.”
I was glad I’d already taken possession of the cake as Mum leapt to her feet at an alarming speed. “She did not! Did she? A date? Like a proper date? Not hooking up, or getting down, or whatever you call it?”
“Shit, Mum. Please never say that again, and yes, a proper date.”
Her arms stopped their flailing and instead crossed over her chest. “Huh.”
“Huh, what? That’s it? No riot acts. No threats of physical violence toward my head?”
“Well, that depends on what your answer was. Did you say yes?”
“No. But I might.”
“Nate.”
